1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a composition for preventing, alleviating, or treating female menopausal symptoms and/or osteoporosis which includes a mixed Puerariae Flos extract.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Women's menopause is a phenomenon of menstrual cessation that occurs when a genetically determined ovarian function of about 50 years after birth has reached the end of its life. This means loss of reproductive capacity and is not a morbid phenomenon, but is a physiological change. Currently, the average life expectancy of Korean women is 81.2 years, and, assuming that the average menopausal age of Korean women prescribed by the Korean Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists is 50 years, this means that about one third or more of women's lives continue with depleted female hormones.
Due to the imbalance and reduction of female hormone secretion by menopause, changes occur throughout the whole body including the vascular system, the musculoskeletal system, the genitourinary system, the cranial nerve, and the like. That is, a variety of diseases and symptoms, for example, vascular mobility and psychological symptoms such as facial flushing, night sweating, sleeping disorders, fatigue, depression, anxiety, concentration disorders, and memory impairment; dyspareunia and urinary frequency due to urogenital atrophy; loss of skin elasticity and mastoptosis due to collagen reduction; cardiovascular and musculoskeletal symptoms; dementia; and the like co-occur. It is reported that 89% of women who have experienced natural menopause experience at least one menopausal symptom, and frequently experience menopausal symptoms.
Although menopausal symptoms vary from person to person, it has been reported that a great number of women experience menopausal symptoms, and the severer the degree thereof and longer the period thereof, the lower the quality of their lives. In addition, menopausal symptoms are likely to proceed into chronic diseases together with aging of the body.
Treatment of menopausal symptoms may include hormone therapy, pharmacotherapy, exercise therapy, dietary therapy, and the like. Among these, medically and substantially used female hormone therapy may increase the risk of breast cancer and the like, and may increase the rate of uterine cancer, thrombotic diseases, gallbladder diseases, and hypertension during long-term use. Thus, research on phytoestrogen, which is reported to have estrogen-like functions to replace estrogen therapy, other drug therapies, and the like, has recently been actively conducted.
Previous studies related to improvement of menopausal symptoms disclose a functional food for the alleviation of menopausal symptoms which includes, as main ingredients, Angelica gigas NAKAI, Ligusticum chuanxiong HORT., Paeonia japonica (Makino) Miyabe et Takeda, white atractylis, white Poria cocos, red ginseng, and a soybean extract, and a food including, as main ingredients, milk vetch roots, cassia seeds, kudzu, and a soybean extract and having an effect of alleviating female menopausal symptoms.
Therefore, the inventors of the present invention continuously studied and developed natural substances capable of effectively alleviating overall menopausal symptoms and osteoporosis due to the menopause, thus completing the present invention.